A Freak Lily!
by The Gnomist
Summary: Petunia Evens was the love of her parent's life, her younger sister Lily on the other hand left much to be desired. Squib AU
1. A Freak!

Authors Note: This is an Au story, Both the Evens and the Snapes are Magic families

* * *

In a very different set of circumstances, the whole you're a freak Lily may have gone very differently

Petunia Evens was the love of her parent's life, her younger sister Lily on the other hand left much to be desired.

* * *

The morning had not been off to a great start.

"Come on Lily concentrate, it's not hard, just do something already. Come on Lily" Petunia forcefully shoved the flower in her younger sisters face for the third time that morning. Petunia had decided the tears welling in Lily's eyes were pathetic, if she could not do it, then she really didn't belong.

"I said do something! Make it grow! Its not hard just concentrate!"

As the moments passed and nothing happened, Petunia would turn her face into a slight almost pitiful frown. Things would continue on like this for months, each day a new test. Each day little Lily would fail and Petunia's pitiful frown began to turn into a hardened grimace.

As the year 1971 began she no longer could stand it. Having Lily at home was shameful, embarrassing, and worst of all, time was running out.

Petunia glared at her sister. "You know you're a disgrace to the family Lily" she spoke in a detached tone, as if stating a fact. "Now I shall ask again can you or can you not make this flower bloom."

Lily remained silent, gnawing at her bottom lip, she no longer cried at these tests but her eyes still showed sadness.

"Stop it, you know as well as I that she cannot," a soft male voice added calmly.

Petunia would feel a thin bony hand tug at her own and she would turn to see Severus.

Swatting his hand away she mumbled "Whose side are you on Sev? Surly not hers!" the feeling of betrayal was evident in her voice.

"It was not her choice to be born this way, Tuni I'm sure she would rather be like us," Severus said softly.

His words did little calm Petunia though they did gain a momentary smile from Lily. She had grown up with people acting as if she had chosen this upon herself, as if this was her fault, not genetics. It was nice to hear someone confirm that she had nothing to do with it.

"Oh yes now I remember, _Lily's broken_ ," her voice was like ice, cold uncaring.

Severus would let out a sigh "Tuni, she's still your sister."

"She's a freak Sev why do you care" Petunia balled her hands into tight fists crushing the flower she had been holding.

Severus shook his head, "It's called being a squib, and it's not her fault."

Anger bubbled up in Petunia's voice "Your a freak Lily! A Freak!"

"Tuni stop. Lily is a squib and there's nothing you nor I, or even she can do to change that."

She would throw the now crushed flower at Lily before shouting "She can't be, she's just not trying had enough!" Petunia had tried, she really had but nothing she did would make her sister learn.

"Tuni she cant do it, you know that" Severus would move to put space between the two girls.

"She has too! Mum and Dad already have been making arrangements." This time Petunias voice began to quiver and even Lily would look up with concern on her face.

The pale face of Severus, if possible went even paler, "Tuni what in the name of Merlin are you on about?" He had a bad feeling that he already knew the answer to this. He turned to look at Petunia, taking the trembling girls hand in his own.

"They… They are getting rid of her. Sev! They are getting rid of her!" the girl was shaking and tears welled in her eyes.

Lily cast her eyes downwards to the floor; she understood what her sister had said.

It took a moment to for Severus to process this. "When?" He didn't know why he bothered asking, he knew the answer, Lily was ten, almost eleven years old.

Before Petunia could answer, Lily spoke keeping her voice low and emotionless. "End of the month, when I turn eleven." The tone in Lily's voice was deadbeat, as if she had accepted her fate.

* * *

The date of the 30th of January 1971 came all to fast for Petunia Evens and on the second of February it was time to say goodbye.

A young Mrs Arabella Figg sat in her old Morris Minor and waited, she had lost her husband the year before and decided that taking in the Evens girl would help her move on, though as she began to read the file she had been given shed close her eyes and rest her head against the wheel of the car. She had been mistaken, what she had taken for an ink smudge was in actual fact a number. She would frown to herself, "Lily Evens aged 11" not the age 1 she had first thought. She had thought it was a bit strange at first, a family dismissing magic in the child as such a young age, but now she understood, and it made it harder. A younger child could integrate with muggle society, but a child that age would struggle to forget her past, struggle to cope. It was easier for a child to adapt from a muggle life into the magic world, but the other way around was much more difficult. As she exited the car, turning the key to lock the door she finally understood. She had gotten the letter about the girl because they knew Lily would have a hard time. They must have known that Arabella Figg herself was a squib, like Lily, brought to the muggle world to late to fully adapt.

Petunia squeezed Severus's bony hand as they watched as Lilly and the woman in her mid 20's entered what they had learned was called an automobile. This would be the last of her sister, Lily that Petunia would see for a very long time.

As the old Morris faded from view Petunia began to break down, looking for shelter in Severus's embrace "This is for the best" he whispered following her blank stares into the fogged distance.

His words echoed in her mind ' _For the best' a_ nd perhaps he was right.

* * *

Thank you for reading,

this came from an idea i had one night laying in bed, what if the roles were swapped. I may write about Lily's Life with a young Mrs Figg, though for now thats just an idea


	2. And so it began

Hello, Thank you for reading this story. Its a short chapter, just over 1,200 words , but i thought i should post something to show the story is not dead or complete. Let me know what you guys think

* * *

Arabella Figg remained quiet on the return drive, her lips tightly pressed together in a mixture of thought and worry. Arabella was silently cursing herself for not having confirmed the girl's age before that morning, she had been thinking the girl was just a baby, for havens sake, the girl was almost half her age!

No matter how bad Arabella saw the situation, she knew she could not arrange a new home for the girl. If she did her name would be blacklisted for sure from the Ministries Roster for Rehoming Non-magical Children (RRNMC), more commonly referred to as the squib placement roster. And that would mean any chance of taking in a young child to bring up as her own would vanish. Sure she could have tried going through the muggle root with an adoption, but in all honesty that didn't seem like a likely scenario.

While it may have been the 1970's and things were starting to change, she was still just a young widowed woman with a low paying job, and no evidence that she could support a child. Keeping herself on that list was priority.

As she drove past a petrol station she sighed and turned the car around and headed to get petrol. Turning to the girl beside her Arabella Figg smiled "I will be back in a few moments Lily, I need to fill the tank."

Lily Evens nodded giving her best to return the smile, though to Arabella it looked forced.

At 6s 6d the price of petrol seemed higher then she was used to at 6s 4d but in a little under 2 weeks Decimal Day would hit and the old system would not matter. With everything changing, she would decide it best to not explain the muggle money to the girl until the new system fully came into effect.

Back on the road again it first seemed that things would continue in silence as they had before. And things might have if it was not for the feint voice coming from the seat beside her.

"How do you know my parents?"

_-_-_._

The question rolled off her lips, she had wondered how her family knew the woman. She looked much to young to be a friend of her mothers or fathers, and she had defiantly never seen the woman before.

"Ah," The catch in Mrs Figgs voice gave her an uneasy feeling. "Actually your family found me through the Ministry Roster, today was the first time I met them."

The words hit Lily hard, her family gave her to a complete stranger they found on the Ministry squib placement roster.

The hurt must have been evident on her face as the next thing she heard was Mrs Figg trying to reassure her. "I've made it through testing dear, its all right."

Having the woman tell her that she had passed some ministry test did not help calm her, instead it made her more worried.

After a moment of a tense silence Mrs Figg spoke again "There's another reason I was chosen," Mrs Figg looked over her shoulder before switching lanes.

"You and I are the same" Arabella Figg's voice was uneven as she spoke, "I like you was born into a family with magic, and like you, my family waited too long to send me away."

The words echoed in her mind, ' _waited to long to send me away_ ' the words may have been about Mrs Figg, but the painful thoughts of not being wanted hurt deeply. Even if Mrs Figg was trying to reassure her that there was a reason she was chosen to care for her, her mind was elsewhere. The look on Lily's face was one of hurt but she remained silent, instead she gnawed at her lip.

"I believe I was chosen to take you in dear, I know how hard it is to adapt into a new world so late in the game." This was distressing to her, she had always grown up knowing that squibs were sent away, that this was for the best, that they had a much easier time adapting to live with muggles then they could living amongst magic yet never fitting in. So why did Mrs Figg now speak of it being hard to adapt?

"But you turned out alright," her voice was a squeak as she swallowed to moisten her throat "surly you found a way to fit in with the muggles? Or you would not be taking me in."

The shake of Mrs Figg's head caused a pit to form in the depths of her stomach.

"Oh no dear, understand them, yes, pass by as one of them, yes, but deep down I know I do not belong. Perhaps if I had come into this world at an earlier time I would have been fine, but arriving at the age of eleven not understanding the new technologies around was difficult."

Anger rose in her chest. Was all she had been told by her family a lie, that she would find happiness living with muggles? It was quickly starting to appear as if that were the case, that muggles could not offer her happiness.

"But.. that's not how its meant to be.." she whispered to herself gripping the edge of her dress fabric. If Mrs Figg had heard her, she had chosen to remain silent.

The car came to a stop pulling up against the curb of a long row of identical brick houses all attached to one another. The house was small and slightly overgrown with vines clinging to the walls of the row house. The house looked nothing like how Lily had imagined, instead the house looked sinister and depressing.

_._-._

Arabella Figg killed the ignition letting the sputtering of the old Morris cease as she leaned her head back rubbing her neck with one hand. Turning now to face the young Lily she did her best to give a look that would be reassuring, though in reality is was anything but.

"Its not going to be easy dear, and I'm truly sorry for it, you are of age where you should be progressing in schooling, yet how much knowledge do you possess on muggle academics."

Arabella hoped things would be different, that perhaps the Evens family had been more prepared for this. That they had been teaching her muggle studies from a young age in preparation, but the blank stares and nervous twitches coming from the young girl beside her caused her heart to fall. 'She is just like me' Arabella thought before reaching over to pull the lock on Lily's side, a frown was forming on her lips.

She needed to stay positive, for the Evens girl's sake.

Giving Lily a chance to take in the surrounding as she exited the car, Arabella went to the boot to retrieve the few belongings the girl had brought with.

"Welcome to your new home" Arabella spoke in the most cheerful voice she could muster, almost to cheerful sounding for the situation, a forced smile pressed tightly on her lips.

She would try her best, for Lily's sake she would try. Though deep down inside she knew - history would repeat itself again.


End file.
